Jute-Tee, Bangladesh beverage in German cups!

“I am just a simple man following my dreams and passion. I am not sure why you want to interview me!” That was the very first sentence he uttered when we met. He appeared to be a simple yet affable man, unlike many high-flying entrepreneurs.

Mizanur Rahman is one of the three founders of a Germany-based jute product manufacturing company, Intertrop. Intertrop is best known for its effort to manufacture jute tea, Jute Tee in German, and launch it in the European market in collaboration with Bangladesh government.

“I never wanted any media attention and I don’t do anything for mere profit. My dream was to do something on my own. And now since it is about my country, I do it with commitment,” Rahman said.

The entrepreneur talked about his start-up and many other aspects of his company during a recent tea adda.

Excerpts of the conversation follow:

How did Intertrop begin?

It all started at an evening hangout. I met Julian Börner in a cafe. We talked about our interests and future dreams. It was just a casual conversation. There we met the other Julian, Julian Kofler. We three had a passion to do something on our own, not any conventional 9:00-5:00 job! We wanted the ‘kick’!

One fine evening we decided to begin a start-up and that emerged as ‘Intertrop’.
Initially the idea was to bring traditional products of developing countries forward to the European market. Our initial focus was on tropical regions in Asia or Africa.

It was 2015 July. We decided to start the start-up from our university and we began officially from September.

Being a Bangladeshi, the first thing that came to my mind was jute. I thought why we don’t go for something that is alternative to plastic, eco friendly.

We started with jute bags instead of plastic carry bags. It didn’t go well though, as the costs for jute bags are higher than production of plastic bags.

Why the name Intertrop?

We wanted to build up something which will link the tropical region to Europe. Our main focus was to introduce a sustainable and environment-friendly project, like finding an alternative solution for plastic by natural fibre like jute. We emphasise on creating markets for sustainable natural products from tropical region in European market that will help the farmers of those regions.

Intertrop is kind of linking tropical region to the international level.

We studied in the University of Hohenheim in Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics and Subtropics programme which is called AgriTropics in short.

When did the jute tea project come into being?

Julian (Börner) and I made a tour to Bangladesh in March 2016. We went to Gazipur to check some jute handicraft products. While having lunch there, we were served spinach of jute leaves (paat shak).

Julian found it very interesting. Then he said, the German people might not like it as a vegetable but it can be consumed in other forms for its useful herbal properties.

During the same tour, we coincidentally met Ismail Khan, the originator of jute tea in Bangladesh.

So that’s when the idea became a reality?

Yes. We asked Mr Ismail for some sample of dry leaves. He sent us 16 kg of sample jute tea three months later. The initial analysis was done by Intertrop at Eurofins laboratory and also at University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.

Was it difficult to launch it in the European market?

Well, it wasn’t easy but we were lucky! We thought jute tea would be a novelty food in Europe. It costs nearly 20,000 euro to launch a novel food product in the European market. Then we luckily got a reference from Greece that jute has been used there for decades. Referring to that, we applied for clearance by the German agriculture ministry.

The ministry gave us clearance declaring the Jute Tee (Tea is called Tee in German) was not a ‘novel food’.

At the beginning Mr. Ismail Khan sent us 200 kg of sample leaves in two instalments to do a trial marketing Germany.

In the meantime, through Mr Khan we started collaboration with the Bangladesh Jute Mill Corporation (BJMC) in 2017 and proposed a joint pilot project. During our consultation work in Bangladesh we have visited several areas like Manikganj, Sharishabari and Trisal.

Finally we started a pilot project in Lemubari, Manikganj. A farmers’ cooperative, Lemubari Organic Farmer Cooperative, was established the following year. It conducts the project now on 7.5 hectares lands with 41 farmers working in it. They are producing jute there in an organic way which will be certified according to European regulations (Reg. EC 834/07 in third countries).

How can the government help making this project a big success?

Look, sometimes you cannot seek immediate profits, but rather work with a long term vision.

Various research and development work needs to be done. We wanted to establish jute as a dual income source (jute fibre and jute tea) for the farmer’s in Bangladesh. Therefore we need more support from BJMC as well as from the government of Bangladesh.

Our government and its relevant bodies can consider the project not only to generate profit as it can be a breakthrough to mark Bangladesh as a brand for jute tea and also an opportunity to improve the status of our jute farmers.

Besides, if the project works out as expected there will be many other work opportunities. For instance, industry or start ups for production, packaging, labelling, importing and so on! It will be new sector to earn foreign currency.

It can be even conducted as an umbrella project by our government bodies.

Tell us about the nutrition value of jute tea?

A number of internationally accredited German laboratories have been analysing dried jute tea leaves to define the biochemical composition of jute leaves and its nutrition value.

Jute tea is found to be full of various minerals and concentrations of potassium, calcium, iron, zinc and selenium. Iron concentration in jute leaves is higher than any other vegetables. It is good for women as they tend to fall in high risk due to iron deficiency. The laboratory findings also show rich antioxidants in jute tea along with Omega 3 and 6.

It contains high amount of minerals and high amount of antioxidants (like ‘superfoods’) which are the essentials components of body functions. It also contains some compounds which are assumed to be beneficial to reduce blood sugar. Regular intake of jute leaf drinks may have benefits for people who are at risk of diabetics, blood pressure and heart diseases but still much more research needs to be done.

What are your future plans?

We are looking forward to an expansion of the Lemubari project and make it an organic certified product from Bangladesh according EU regulation. Also, further agricultural research for dual purpose and much deeper laboratory analysis will be conducted to find out the medicinal value of jute leaves and its impact on the human body.

We had a proposal to conduct agricultural research on organic cultivation of jute and implementation of documented lessons learned at the Lemubari pilot project and we hope we will get enough support from the government to conduct further research and development as well as to market jute tea internationally.

We expect to reach 0.5 per cent of the herbal tea market in Germany within the next 2-3 years targeting 200MT production per year.

What are the recognitions you have received so far?

Intertrop has been highly promoted and recognised (Start up der Universität Hohenheim) by the University of Hohenheim in 2018 on its 200 years celebration. The university also selected Jute-Tee as 200 year Jubileum product.

In Switzerland Jute-Tee was promoted by Helvetas as a sustainable product from Bangladesh. Besides, Jute Tee was one of the new innovative products in BIOFACH 2018, Nuremberg Germany (Biggest organic food product Fair in Europe).

What are your aspirations?

Well, honestly speaking, I could have joined in a German company and earned a handsome amount a year rather than struggle with a start-up. My mother used to ask me what I was doing with my career instead of settling down in life.

This was my dream and so here I am! I am happy that my dream start-up is fully fledged company now. Thanks to all the people who help us especially Julian Boerner who was along with me all though this journey. It not only gave me an identity but made Bangladesh known in the European market as the producer of Jute-Tee.

You can see our final product which is selling in Germany now, ‘originated in Bangladesh’ and ‘developed and cultivated in collaboration with Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC)’ inscribed on the Jute-Tee packet. It makes me proud.

We are proud of you as well. Thank you for the interview.

Thank you too!

*Farjana Liakat works for Prothom Alo. She can be reached at farjana.liakat@prothomalo.com